One hundred and ten years ago this month, in the rolling hills above the River Somme, whistles blew along 13 miles of the British trench. Thousands of young soldiers climbed over the top and began advancing toward the enemy lines. The generals believed that a week of artillery had destroyed the German defenses. It hadn’t.

By nightfall on July 1, 1916, there were 60,000 casualties — the bloodiest day in British history — and only the first day of the Battle of the Somme. By war’s end, 40 million soldiers and civilians were dead or wounded.

In his new book, “The Coming Storm,” historian Odd Arne Westad stands among the endless rows of headstones in northern France and asks: Is there any more important issue than war and peace?

Yet there is another question almost no one is asking: If a great power war started tomorrow, what is the plan for the American people?

Disaster professionals have........

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